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IDEA RESEARCH, TRAINING, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS NEXT UP

January 22, 2000

A new year brings new opportunities for educators and organizations to put the federal government's budget to work. The U.S. Department of Education this week released three new grant notices for programs for fiscal year 2000 funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The grants provide funding for programs under Part D of IDEA, which defines seven federal programs designed to supplement the state-run special ed. systems. As reported, the 2000 budget includes slightly more than $6 billion for IDEA programs, but more than 80 percent of that money goes to the states. About $281.5 million goes to Part D programs.

27 Research and Innovation Grants

The purpose of the first set of grants, tagged as "Research & Innovation to Improve Services & Results for Children with Disabilities" grants, is fairly self-explanatory. Through improved knowledge, the theory goes, IDEA services and the practices of professionals involved in delivering those services can be improved. The specific focus of this set of grants is on directed research projects, for which the department set a maximum award of $180,000 per year. Applications for research and innovation grants are available Jan. 26 and are due March 20.

Check the Ed. Department's FY 2000 grant forecastfor all programs

An estimated 27 research and innovation grants will be awarded for programs with maximum lengths of 36 months. Approximately three awards will be for projects that focus on inclusion of students with disabilities in large-scale assessment programs. At least one of these assessment awards will focus on low-incidence disabilities, "for which a small number of personnel with highly specialized skills and knowledge are needed in order for children with that impairment to receive early intervention services or a free appropriate public education," the department said.

Twelve awards will go toward projects that investigate one or more issues related to providing instruction in the general education curriculum for children with disabilities. Such issues can include instructional interventions for core subjects and second languages, the impact of contextual variables like classroom design and student grouping, the relationship of inclusive preschool practices and child-family transition practices to child development and other topics. The grants will be distributed among programs for preschool, elementary, middle and high school grade levels, with at least two grants to each.

Early and prescriptive assessment programs for children with learning or emotional disabilities will be assigned three research and improvement grants. Noting that research shows early intervention for LD and ED children has been effective, the department says the number and scope of assessment programs for those children still lags behind assessment programs for children with physical, sensory, speech and significant cognitive disabilities. "Attempts to explain the late identification patterns for children with learning or emotional disabilities have targeted weaknesses in assessment practices and the reluctance of schools to engage in potentially stigmatizing erroneous identification," the department says. "This late identification problem has resulted in many young children not receiving appropriate services at the age when they would obtain the greatest benefit from targeted interventions."

Three awards will go to the exploration of the influences of gender on special education referral, placement and services for students with disabilities. Though both genders are represented evenly in school enrollments, males account for approximately two-thirds of all students in special education. "In many cases, it is not clear if females are under-identified for special education, if males are over-identified, or if real differences exist in the prevalence of disability between males and females," the department says.

The last six awards will be for projects that research ways to improve literacy of children who are unresponsive to classroom or school-wide programs in grades K-3 and to improve reading comprehension for students in all grades. Inclusive reading programs in the early grades are not necessarily effective for all students with disabilities, the department notes. "These programs may include explicit and intensive instruction within or outside the classroom in small groups and, in the most difficult cases, with individualized one-on-one tutoring. The hope has been that all children would succeed in these circumstances; however, there are a small number of children who do not benefit from these interventions and who are at the highest risk for academic and social failure."

A Dozen Teacher Training Grants

A second set of grants will fund approximately 12 programs to promote training for special ed. teachers, paraeducators and related special ed. service providers. The programs must help address the need states have identified for qualified personnel in special ed., early intervention and regular ed. to work with students with disabilities. In addition, eligible programs must be based on practices that have been established through research and experience to be successful, the department says. The maximum award per year will be $200,000 per project. Applications are available Jan. 26 and due March 10. Personnel preparation programs have been identified as a national priority in light of the current teacher shortage in public schools around the country. As reported, special ed., math and science teachers are in the shortest supply, with many school systems reporting they employ underqualified teachers in those subjects to make sure there is at least a body in every classroom.

Though all applications will be considered, the department said it will give special attention to projects that address one of seven training needs:

• new ways to make licenses and certifications transferable across state and local jurisdictions for people serving infants, toddlers and children with disabilities,
• greater quantity, quality and diversity of educators through new recruiting practices,
• employee retention plans that use "innovative, multi-year developmental induction models,"
• collaborative training of regular and special education personnel, including paraeducators,
• case-based or problem-based training modules,
• improved teaching and learning through the use of assistive, instructional and communication technology, and
• decision-making methods for individualized education programs, "particularly with regard to a child's participation in assessments," the department says.

Three Technical Assistance Grants

The final set of grants spells out three specific programs needed under IDEA's "Technical Assistance and Dissemination" provisions. All three grants are for programs that specifically address the goals of effecting system-wide change in the implementation of IDEA's programs and including all people affected by the programs in that process. Such implementation "is dependent, in part, on the active participation of educational and professional associations, parent organizations, advocacy groups and other entities concerned with the early intervention and education for children with disabilities," the department says. Applications for each of these grants are available Jan. 26 and due March 10.

The first grant will award $1.5 million to one program that helps education policy makers implement the IDEA amendments. The grant is designed to either renew the current Policy Maker Partnership, whose grant expired in 1999, or fund a new, similarly oriented project. Such a group would "inform and provide support to the partnership's members and constituents in understanding the law, the implications of the law for their respective roles in improving results for children with disabilities and how research-based best practices can be used to implement the law," the department says.

The PMP is one of four partnerships the Department of Education established in 1998 to help families, advocates, policy makers, local administrators and services providers work together. The other three -- the Families and Advocates Partnership for Education, the IDEA Local Implementation by Local Administrators Partnership and the Association of Service Providers Implementing IDEA Reforms in Education -- are funded through fiscal 2000.

The second grant will distribute $400,000 to one program that will give state and federal decision makers access to valid statistics, research findings and policy options, plus information on trends in providing special education and related services. The program must also improve communication between the Department of Education and state and local administrators of IDEA and "to synthesize national program information that will improve the management, administration, delivery and effectiveness of programs and services," the department says.

The third will award $700,000 per year for up to 60 months to establish a "Center on Achieving Results in Education for Students With Disabilities." Under the 1997 amendments to IDEA, states must promote participation of students with disabilities in state and district-wide assessments, providing accommodations or alternate assessments where appropriate. States must also report on the performance and participation of students with disabilities in these assessments and must establish goals and indicators to address that performance. "States are making progress in implementing these assessment and accountability requirements. However, a number of technical and policy challenges must be overcome before the requirements can yield all of their potential benefits for students with disabilities," the department says.8